I don't own Harry Potter.

Hi all and welcome back to the new chapter of this story. Hope everyone had a good two weeks and in good health. I'm doing fine and I'm working on all of my stories. That's right, I've started writing on my other Naruto story again. It's going slow but at least I'm writing again. I'm going to work on a few chapters ahead so don't expect any chapters just yet. I promise to start posting again as soon as I have a few chapters ready.

A short note on this chapter. I'm not too sure about how Harry deals with the first task and I'm sure people will comment on it. I admit that it's unlikely but hey, let's just go with it. Enjoy.

Chapter 38: The first Task

It took Harry two more days before Harry managed to get Cedric alone so he could tell him about the dragons. Cedric was very surprised and asked Harry how he had found out about it. Harry quickly told him that he couldn't sleep and had wondered off outside and had found out by accident about the dragons. Cedric believed him, after all Harry was known for always sneaking around in Hogwarts and the stories about him being involved in some dangerous adventures were an indication that what he said could be true. Still, Cedric didn't feel all that well about knowing about the task beforehand and said that they should tell the other champions as well. Harry smiled knowing that Cedric was a great guy and told him that he had seen Madame Maxime and Fleur and that Krum should have been informed by his headmaster.

"Yeah, I can see how you think that." Cedric said after he thought about Karkaroff.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know so you can prepare." Harry said before walking away.

"Hey Harry, thanks man." Cedric said thankfully.

"Don't worry about it." Harry smiled and went in search for Hermione.

He found her in the library where she was working on her assignment for Snape and he quickly got out his books and started working as well. They worked in silence for the next few hours and quickly finished off any assignments they still had so that they could enjoy the weekend without having to worry about it. When they were done they left the library and went for a walk outside. It was starting to get chilly, as it was already the end of October but with a quick warming charm neither of them felt the cold wind. They talked a bit about the classes they had and the assignments before Hermione took Harry's hand in hers and gave it a gently squeeze.

"What's wrong Mione?" Harry said worried.

"It's just that stupid tournament that got me worried." Hermione admitted. "I mean, you could get hurt."

"Don't worry Mione, I'll be fine." Harry said trying to reassure her. "I'm well ahead of everyone and I'm sure I can find a way to deal with the first task."

"I know but still…" Hermione said.

"I promise that everything will be fine." Harry said giving her a quick hug and a kiss. "I'll be back before you know it and then we'll laugh about all of this." Hermione nodded and together they walked back to the castle to enjoy dinner.

Finally the day of the first task arrived and Harry was starting to get a bit nervous. Over the past few days they had been looking up spells that might work against dragons but so far they hadn't found much. They did found out however that the eyes were the Dragons weakness but even that wouldn't be of much help as hitting the eyes of a moving, flying dragon was next to impossible. Also, they didn't want Harry to display too much skill as that would arouse suspicion.

Harry made his way down to the common room where Hermione and his friends were waiting for him. The rest of the school was already outside in the stands waiting for the Tournament to begin. The twins wished him good luck and told him that they would take care of Hermione during the task. Neville also wished him good luck saying that he believed in him. The three guys then left Harry and Hermione alone and left the common room. Hermione threw herself at Harry, who just managed to catch her before she kissed him passionately. Harry relaxed and eagerly returned the kiss.

"That was a kiss for good luck." Hermione said blushing a bit. "When you get back you'll get another one."

"Thanks Mione, wait for me okay." Harry smiled before he hugged her again.

"Always." She answered and together they left the common room and headed to the tent where Harry was awaited by the rest of the champions and the officials of the Tournament. Hermione wished him good luck and then joined Neville and the twins in the stands.

Harry was beckoned to come closer by the rest of the champions and the teachers so that the selection process could start. Each of the Champions had to put their hand in a bag and grab a miniature version of the four dragons that Harry had seen in the Dark Forest. He didn't pay much attention to which dragon the other had chosen but he did gulp slightly when he heard that the remaining dragon was the Hungarian Horntail.

'Of course I had to get the most vicious one.' Harry thought to himself.

He listened closely as Ludo Bagman explained the purpose of this test. The champions were supposed to face the dragon and try to retrieve a golden egg that was place inside the dragon's nest. He assured them that they weren't in any danger as Dragon Handlers were standing by in case of an emergency. Harry dreaded the thought of needed to be rescued. Not that he was against being rescued but rather because he doubted they could stop a rampaging dragon in time before he got seriously injured or even killed. Bagman continued saying that they would go in order starting with Cedric, Fleur, Krum and finally Harry. When Bagman finished his explanations the champions were given some time to prepare before the task would start. Harry secluded himself a bit from the other, silently thinking about how he would get the egg. He had a faint idea that might work. It was pretty straightforward and obvious but that was exactly why it might work. Suddenly though he heard his name being called out softly. He looked up to see Ludo Bagman heading his way.

"Euh Harry, may I have a moment of your time?" He asked steering Harry outside the tent.

"I guess so." Harry said annoyed at being disturbed.

"Yes well, I was wondering if you had a plan to deal with the dragon?" Bagman asked after looking around a bit.

"I've got a few ideas." Harry said weary.

"I could give you a few tips if you want? Something that will ensure your victory." Bagman nodded.

"Are you trying to make me cheat?" Harry said angry. Sure he might not have volunteered to participate but he was no cheater.

"Saying it like that makes it sounds bad." Bagman smiled. "I prefer to call it, helping you succeed more easily. What do you say?"

"No thank you." Harry said turning around and walked back to the tent. "And if you come near me again with such a proposal, then I'm going to have a few words with Dumbledore and the others."

Harry left a worried Bagman behind not caring what reason the man might have to offer such a thing. Little did Harry know that Bagman was planning to bet heavily on Harry's victory in the first task in hopes of winning enough gold to be able to repay the goblins. They had been most insistent that he repay them as soon as possible and of course he was unable to do so as he had lost everything during the Quidditch Championship. If Harry lost this task he would be left with nothing and the goblins would have his head faster than he could say 'I'm broke'. His gambling addiction had finally caught up with him. But now that Harry had refused his help, Bagman got cold feet and changed his bet. He know that Harry Potter was a great wizard but no fourteen year old could face a dragon and come out on top. No matter if he was the Boy-Who-Lived.

Meanwhile Cedric was ready to face his dragon and Harry and Fleur wished him good luck. Cedric nodded and told them that he would be back in a few minutes. When Dumbledore started the task, the students in the stands went wild and Cedric stepped out of the tent ready to face his dragon. Harry chose not to watch what Cedric had planned but he listened to the 'ooh' and 'aah' coming from the students to judge how Cedric was doing. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

About twenty minutes later Cedric stumbled back into the tent, carrying a large golden egg but with a burnt arm. Madame Pomfrey rushed over and started treating him while cursing the idea of having students face a dragon of all things. Meanwhile Fleur had started her task and judging from the sounds coming from the stands she seemed to do pretty well so far. Harry once more tuned out the commentary made by Bagman and tried to concentrate. About a fifteen minutes after she stepped out of the tent Fleur reentered with the golden egg in her arms. She didn't come out unscathed however as her dress was burnt and she sported a cut on her leg. Again Madame Pomfrey rushed to the wounded girl and started treating her.

It was now Krum turn and from what Harry could make out from the boy's face, it seemed that he was either constipated or scared to death. Harry didn't blame him though. Everyone would be scared to face a dragon like that. Harry felt for the other champions; sure he was the youngest but he felt pretty confident that he had more training and knew more magic that they did thanks to all the training he had done over the past few years. While thinking about how far he had come, Krum had managed to grab the golden egg from the dragon and it was now Harry's turn. When he heard his name, he stood up, took a deep breath and stepped into the arena. The crowd yelled out his name in encouragement or disliking but he hardly heard it. All his focus was aimed at the massive dragon that sat there in front of him. The sounds of the students cheering and booing made the dragon even more agitated and defensive of her eggs.

Harry crept closer to the dragon while hiding behind the big rocks that were scattered all around the arena. He hoped that the dragon wouldn't notice him immediately but he was soon proved wrong. The dragon, who had a clean sense of smell, knew that there was an intruder that might want to harm her eggs and she was trying to pinpoint his location. Harry continued getting closer until he had a good view at the golden egg. Just then the dragon had found him and she breathed a stream of fire straight at him. Luckily for Harry the large rock protected him from the scolding flames but it was still starting to get a little too hot to his liking. Harry took out his wand and prepared for his spell. Once the dragon had stopped breathing fire in his direction, Harry jumped up and pointed his wand to the egg and yelled out 'Accio Golden Egg' before ducking back behind the rock. True enough, and to everyone's amazement, the golden egg flew out of the nest and straight into Harry's arms, who quickly walked away like nothing happened. He entered the tent and had to fight of Madame Pomfrey, who asked him if he was hurt somewhere but to her surprise and the other champions, Harry had come out unharmed and had need only a few minutes to get the egg.

"W-what the? How did you do that?" Cedric asked amazed.

"Huh? Oh, I just used the summoning charm that Prof. Flitwick has been teaching us in charms." Harry told them. "I wasn't sure it would work but figured that it was worth a shot."

"What if it hadn't worked?" Fleur asked him.

"Well, then I would have been in trouble because I didn't really come up with another plan." Harry said sheepishly making the other champions look at him in shock.

A few moments later the champions were called out and they would be informed of their points. Harry didn't really care about it but he was forced to be present. With a bored look on his face his listened at Dumbledore awarding points and the explanation for the points. He almost missed the fact that he was awarded top point by everyone but Karkaroff and was first in the lead with Cedric, Fleur and Krum following him. The Hogwarts students went crazy when they saw that their champions were in first and second place but they still clapped and cheered on Fleur and Krum just the same. Dumbledore then announced that dinner would be served shortly.

Hermione, who had watched in amazement at Harry, stormed down the stairs to congratulate her boyfriend. When she reached him she had to control herself as not to jump into his arms and kiss him until his toes curled. But they had decided to keep their relationship a secret a bit longer so she settled for a bone-crushing hug and a promise of snogging later on. Harry laughed and told her that he was looking forward to that and together they left to take a walk on the ground away from all the commotion. They ignored most of the other students and went off to their own little world, just enjoying the other's company. Hermione asked a few questions about the task but nothing extensive. She was just happy that Harry hadn't been hurt. After an hour of walking and relaxing, they returned to the Great Hall to have dinner. When they arrived their however it became clear that some people didn't agree with Harry's winning of the task.

"So how did you come up with just summoning the Egg, Harry?" Neville asked interested.

"Well, I didn't want to be mauled by a dragon or fried alive so I thought to myself 'what spell do I know that could prevent that?' and remembered Prof. Flitwick's lesson of yesterday." Harry admitted. "I decided to see if it might work and luckily it did."

"Good thinking, Harry." Neville said impressed.

"Pfff, good thinking?" Ron snorted. "Seems like a bloody coward to me. He didn't even have the courage to engage the dragon. Some Gryffindor you are."

"Excuse me?" Harry said narrowing his eyes. "And what would you have done, Ronald?"

"I would have at least faced the dragon head on." Ron said trying to sound impressive.

"Yes, I'm sure that would've worked out really well." Harry laughed. "Look Ron, these tasks aren't kid's play. Facing a dragon head on is just plain stupid."

"The others faced their dragon and got their Egg." Ron smirked thinking he had embarrassed Harry in front of the entire school. By now the entire Great Hall had noticed the conversation and were listening in.

"Yes, they did and each of them got hurt in one way or the other." Harry admitted. "And while I respect their bravery and courage, that doesn't mean I have to do the same thing."

"But you're a Gryffindor for god's sake." Ron exclaimed loudly. "We're supposed to be brave and face everything head on. You acted like a bloody chicken out there instead of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. You're supposed to be a hero."

"Then I guess my understanding of bravery and courage is a whole lot different than yours." Harry shrugged simply but he noticed that Ron didn't understand what he meant. "To me bravery and courage isn't about facing a dragon head on or defeating a enemy just so that people could congratulate me or be in awe of me. To me, it's about being afraid and still do the right thing. It's about being strong enough to face your problems with your head held high even if you know that your life is on the line. It's about preparing to give everything you are and have in order to make sure that those you love will be okay without hoping for fame or reward. You're wrong about me being a hero too."

"Huh?" Ron said not understanding.

"An example perhaps?" Harry sighed. "In the Muggle world there are several organizations that help people in need. These people help others at risk of their own lives every day. They don't do this because they'll get famous or rich but instead they do it because it's the right thing to do. They help people in areas of war and sickness, disregarding their own safety and health for people they don't even know. That is bravery, that's courage and that's what a hero does."

"Mr. Potter is right." The voice of Albus Dumbledore sounded through the Great Hall. "In our lives we get several changes to do what is easy or what is right. I trust each and every one of you to make the right choice when you have to make it."

The rest of dinner Harry and Hermione spend in silence and the rest of Gryffindor students seemed to understand that Harry didn't want to be asked to many question about the task. It was obvious to them that he participated against his will but still did what needed to be done. Even Ron seemed to understand that he might have misjudged Harry Potter but he was too proud to apologize to him.

That night Harry and the rest of the team discussed the first task. Sirius and Remus were very proud of Harry and the way he had dealt with the task. Tonks on the other hand had hugged him close and told him how scared she had been the entire day not knowing how things had gone. She was glad he was alright and very proud of him as well. Harry had reassured the pink haired Auror that he was fine and that he was sorry for scaring her like that. Nonetheless she had brought up an interesting point; they really needed those communication devices the twins had been working on.

"So guys, how is it going?" Tonks asked.

"My fair lady, we are proud to present.." Fred started.

"the prototype of our…" George added.

"communication crystal." Fred finished with excitement.

Fred then took out a small box and opened it in front of everyone taking out a diamond shaped crystal pendant. The others looked closely and to the naked eye it looked like any other pendant they had seen. The twins quickly explained that the pendant had been enchanted with the same spells as the communication mirrors that Sirius and co had made. They did have to make some small adjustments here and there and it still needed a lot of research. Right now the crystal was capable of transmitting messages but only out loud so everyone could hear it. The twins even demonstrated it and it worked perfectly.

"Also, right now we can only communicate between two people." Fred added. "It's a start and I'm sure we'll figure it out to make it possible to contact everyone with a pendant once we figure out the spell."

"And a final flaw at the moment is the distance between the two pendants." George finished. "To work properly, the two pendants can't be away from each other over half a mile."

"Still that's pretty good." Harry congratulated the twins. "No doubt that you two evil geniuses will figure out how to make it work."

The rest of the time at the Lair was spend by some sparring and a few magical duels but nothing to intense. All of them had a rough day behind them and they wanted to take it easy for the next following days. The twins begged off the sparring saying they wanted to get those communication pendants up and running before the end of the year. Sirius and Remus had participated in the magical duels but claimed that their bones were too old and brittle for the martial arts training. So it was just Harry, Hermione and Tonks who practiced in Muggle fighting. Tonks, who had hated it at first, was coming along nice in her fighting skills once she had the basic moves down and she had seen the advantages of it during her Auror training as well. At six in the morning they all said their goodbye's and went back up.

The next few days following the first task went by pretty fast. Lots of people came up to apologize to Harry and congratulate him with his victory. Harry didn't really care about the insincere ones but he happily forgave those who he knew regretted the way they acted before. Those and the young ones who had only followed the higher years. They didn't know what was going on after all. All in all, Harry was glad that he didn't have to deal with the glares and the whispering anymore. Even though that hadn't completely stopped; instead of badmouthing him they were now praising him for his strength and resourcefulness.

Some things however didn't change. Malfoy and his gang still annoyed him from time to time and the Daily Prophet had published a rather exaggerating piece on him, almost announcing him as the next Merlin. Skeeter had writing about the article but she barely said anything about the task. Instead she focused on Harry and his past, even going so far as to start speculating on Harry's love life and his future family. Of course Hermione had been tipped as his best friend for years thus making her the first of a long list of possible love interest. In private, Harry and Hermione laughed at some of the names that Skeeter had put forward. Still, Hermione had mentioned that she had been glared at by several witches including Ginny.

'Damn that Skeeter woman.' Harry thought. 'Just when Ginny was starting to back off. Now of course, she following us around everywhere we go.'

"What's on your mind, Harry?" Hermione asked while walking to the classroom.

"Oh, nothing important 'Mione." Harry smiled. "I was just thinking about that stupid article of Skeeter."

"She's just a paparazzi, Harry." Hermione said. "Just ignore her and she'll find some other guy to bother soon enough."

"I hope you're right about that." Harry sighed but something told him that Skeeter would be a pain later on.

The day went by and classes were great. The two of them had no trouble in class thanks to all the training they did and while sometimes they had to hold back, they greatly enjoyed classes. When they finished their assignments, they either helped those in trouble or worked on an extra project for some extra credit. It was however in Transfiguration that McGonagall dropped the bomb that would scare the guys and excited the girls.

"Before you go, I would like to announce that Hogwarts will be hosting a Yule ball this year." The stern looking professor said. "Those of fourth year and up are permitted to attend though I will expect impeccable behavior from my house. Those of you who wish to attend will need dress robes. While coming to the ball alone is permitted, it is customary to have a date for the evening. There will be music and snacks as well. Do not think that this is an opportunity for fooling around, like I said I expect perfect behavior from all of you. Hogwarts is hosting the ball and those of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons will be attending as well. I wish you all good luck in finding a date. Mr. Potter, a word please."

"You wanted to speak to me, professor?" Harry asked when everyone else had left.

"Yes, Mr. Potter I did." McGonagall smiled. "As a champion you are expected to attend to ball and bring a date. Also, you will have to perform the opening dance together with the other champions. I trust that you'll be able to find a suitable date and that you'll manage to perform the dance to a certain level of perfection?"

"Yes Ma'am." Harry gulped slightly.

"Very well then, off you go Mr. Potter." The professor said turning back to the stack of papers in front of her.

Hermione watched as a troubled looking Harry joined her outside of the Transfiguration classroom and frowned when Harry refused to tell her about it until later that night. They still had several classes that day and she was dying to know what had spooked her boyfriend like that. The rest of the day went painstakingly slow for the bushy-haired witch and Harry found some enjoyment in teasing his girlfriend. Finally deciding that he had annoyed her enough he asked her to take a walk outside, where no one would bother them.

"Okay Harry, spill it." Hermione glared at him though he could see she wasn't really mad at him only curious.

"Relax 'Mione it's nothing bad." Harry said smiling. "It's just that as a champion I have to dance at the opening song of the Yule Ball. So, here's my question to you, 'Mione. Will you do me to honor of accompanying me to the ball?"

"Oh Harry, of course I will." Hermione exclaimed happily, grabbing Harry in a hug. "And don't worry, we'll practice a bit tonight so you'll do fine during the ball."

"Gee, 'Mione thanks for the vote of confidence in my dancing skills." Harry said affronted.

"Do you know how to dance?" Hermione challenged him.

"No." Harry admitted getting red in the face.

"That's what I thought." Hermione laughed.